Powder puff and method of making the same



n 1932- R. BIHLER POWDER PUFF AMD METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Original Filed June 23. 1950 INVENTOR Patented June 28, V 1932 :UN Tan stares arrier 'OfiFE CiEf.

ROGER BIHLER, 0F COLLEGE POINT, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 MICHAEL A. 1BflilllLKOFltl', OF

COLLEGE POINT, NEW YORK, AND ALLEN A. SLADE, OE RYE, NEW YORK I POWDER PUFF AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Original application filed June 23, 1930, Serial No. 463,007. Divided and this application filed June 4,

1931. Serial This invention relates to multi-ply enclosed articles, particularly powder puffs, and to a method for manufacturing the same.

In manufacturing powder puffs, a-plurality of circular plies of plush or velour fabric are superposed face to face or nap to nap, and stitched for most of their periphery. Special machines have been devised to facilitate this stitching operation in an attempt to make it possible to manufacture powder puffs by quantity production methods, and such a machine is disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 128,885, filed August 12, 1926.

The I pouch thus formed is inverted or turned inside out so as to bring the plush or velour surface outermost, after which the puff may be stuffed with a suitable soft filling, if desired. The opening which remains is then stitched by hand.

The primary and general object of the present invention is to provide a powder puff which is united entirely around its periphery with machine stitching; and further resides in the provision of a method for making such a powder puff, so that powder puffs may be made entirely by quantity production methods with relatively unskilled help.

The present application is adivision of my oopending parent application 'Ser. No. 463,007, filed June 23, 1930. The said parent application discloses the powder puff and method for making the same. and further discloses a novel powder puff sewing machine for performing the method. The claims of the said parent application are more particularly directed to the apparatus or sewing machine, while the claims of the present application are directed to the powder puff and the method of making the same.

When the opening in a powder puff, after turning the same, is closed, it is desirable that the fabric be turned inward and held together by a concealed stitch, so that the portion of the periphery which is sewed after turning will not be. obviously distinguishable fromv any other portion of the periphery. It is also desirable that the stitching employed be sutfi-' ciently open and spaced to prevent the periphery from becominghard and knotty, so that the entire pufi including the periphery thereof will be soft and velvety to the touch; These facts have encouraged the survival of.

hand methods for closing the pufi, because in that method a peculiar stitch may be taken which turns the fabric inwardly and conceals the stitch, holding the same together. However, this stitch is tedious andtime-consuming to make.

Accordingly, it is another object of the present invention to provide a machine stitched powder puff in which the stitching will be invisible, or if preliminarily visible will be of such a nature thatit may subsequently be drawn taut and thereby concealed and another object of'my invention is to provide a method for so stitching the'opening in turned powder puffs.

Many powder piufis are provided witha ribbon which extends diametrically across the pufl. Such a ribbon is commonly provided by placing the ribbon between the superposed circular plies of material when the same are first'stitched, the said stitching passingthrough and attaching one end of the ribbon.-

The pufi is then turned, thereby not only bringing'the soft faces of the fabric outermost, but also bringing the ribbon on theoutside. In accordance with prior methods, the freeend of the ribbon was tucked into the opening and attached to the puff when the opening was hand sewed. Further objectsof the present invention are to attach such ribbon to the pufiby machine stitching,-and to provide a method for this purpose.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and such other objects as will hereinafter ap-' tion.

stitching has been drawn taut and the ribbon reversed;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged section taken in the plane of the line 66 in Fig. 5; and

Fig. 7 is explanatory of the stitch employed.

My improved powder puff and method for making the same may best be described with reference to Figs. 1 through 7 of the drawing. While the invention is generally appli-' cable to enclosed multi-ply articles, it is particularly important and is here described in connection with the manufacture of powder puffs. For this purpose, a suitable soft fab ric such as plush or velour is cut to circular configuration so as to form a plurality of discs of material the size of which depends upon the size of puff intended to be manufactured.

A pair of plies are then superposed in face to face relation, that is, with their soft sides or naps innermost, as is indicated by the plies 2 and 4 in Fig. 1 of the drawing. This assembly is then stitched for most of its periphery with a circular line of stitching 6 extending from the points 8 to 10 and leaving an unstitched opening 12. This stitching operation may obviously be done with a sewing machine instead of by hand, and in order to make possible the rapid production of puffs which are truly circular and accurate in size, special powder pu fi sewing machines have been devised for this stitching opera.-

Such a machine is disclosed and claimed in my prior copending application Ser. No. 128,885 previously mentioned.

The pouch thus formed is next inverted or turned inside out so as to bring the finished surface of the plies of material 2 and 4 outermost and also to enclose and conceal the line of stitching 6. The puff then takes the form shown in Fig. 2 which contains the opening 12. If desired, suitable soft filling material may be placed withinthepuff through this opening, after which the opening must be closed. This has heretofore been done by hand with a peculiar stitch which it is impossible to duplicate by machine and which serves to draw or tuck the edges of the mate rial at the opening inward so that the resulting peripheral portion of the pufi is not conspicuously distinguishable from the machine sewed periphery of the puff. This hand seW- ing process is tedious and slow, relative to machine methods, and does not result in perfectly uniform results, for the portion of the periphery which is sewed by hand seldom tal ies a truly arcuate shape of proper size to result ina perfectly round finished pufi.

In accordance with the present invention, the opening'is closed'by a novel staggered stitch employing upper and lower threads which are looped together in a manner which is readily accomplished by machine. This stitch is clearly shown in Fig. 7 and comin detail, it will be observed that the upper thread 14L and lower thread 16 are alternately looped inside of the puff, as at 24, and outside of the puff, as at 18.

This stitch is essentially a machine stitch, and its formation may best be and is in my copending parent application described in connection with the sewing machine of my invention which makes the same, but it may briefly be stated at this point that the edges of the plies of material 2 and 4 are preliminarily bent inward at the opening, and that the upper thread 14 is passed downwardly through the material of the pufi and looped with the lower thread 16 to form a loop 24 inside of the puff, afterxwhich the upper thread 14: is passed downwardly outside of the periphery of the p and looped with the lower thread-16 to form a loop 18 outside of the pufi, after which the upper thread 14 is again passed downwardly through the material of the pufi' and looped with the lower thread 16 to form another loop 24 inside of the pufi, and so on. Between the taking of each of these stitches, and preferably when the needle is retracted from the pufi, the material at the opening may be pushed inwardly. V

The puff is then in the condition illustrated in 3 loose manner, with the external loops 18 of the stitching exposed. The condition of the puff at this time isalso clearly'indicated in Fig. At this point, the material of the puff at the opening may be again pushed inwardly to insure that the edges will remain in the desired inwardly bent relation, which incidentally loosens the loops of stitching. In accordance with my method, the ends 20 and 22 of the threads 14 and 16 are next drawn taut, and this takes up the slack in the loops of thread and tends to draw the material at the edge of the puff over the stitching, as is best indicated in Fig. 6. The opening is thus held closed by a staggered line of stitching which is located entirely inside of the puff, or which may be left slightly exposed, according to the tension placed upon the hreads before trimming the same from the puff.

if the puff is to be provided witha ribbon, an appropriate strip of ribbon 30 is placed between the plies 2 and l of material when the puff is first stitched. The points 8 and 10, determining the line of stitching 6 and the opening 12 therebetween, are located at either side of one end of the ribbon 30,

and is closed, but in a relatively the other end of the ribbon being attachedby the line of stitching 6. The pufi' is then turned, and the turning'operation is actually facilitated bythe ribbon 30 which comes outsideof' the turned pufi and is stretched ribbon were not present,-the stitching passing through the ribbon just as it passed through the material of the puff, as is evident from Fig. 3. .When the ends20 and 22 of thread are drawn taut and trimmed from the pnfi',

some of the external loops of stitching may remain somewhat exposed, particularly at the end of the ribbon, because the surface of the ribbon is not soft like the surface of the puff itself. However, the ribbon is then turned to the opposite side of the puff, as shown in Fig. 5, or in. other words, is turned upon that side of the puff which causes the end of the ribbon to conceal rather than ex-' pose the stitching attaching the same to the puff. If the ribbon has a wrong and aright side, the better side is then brought outermost as it should be. v

' A preferred form of sewing machine for practicing the foregoing method is described in my aforesaid parent application Ser. No. 463,007. The said machine comprises, generally, stitching mechanism, feed mechanism, pusher mechanism, and automatic stopping mechanism which need not be described indetail here. The stitching mechanism includes a needle with an upper thread, and a shuttle carrying a lower thread. The needle is not only reciprocated longitudinally, but is also reciprocated transversely, so that alternate stitches will be taken through the material of the puff and outside the periphery of the puff, as previously described- The shuttle is so designed that' it loops the thread carried by the needle in. either the inward or outward positions of the needle. The feed mechanism includes a lower disc or table which-is mechanically rotated preferably intermittently by appropriate drive mechanism, and an upper disc'urgeddownwardly an already turned and stuffed powder puff I and is placed with the powder puff 1n the,

machine for the sewing operation.- Fixed guides and a mechanically reciprocated pusher finger are used in cooperation for bending the fabric of the puff inward during the sewing operation so as to insure that alternate stitches do anddo not penetrate the material of the pufi. Automatic means may'also be provided for stopping the sewing operation when' the end of the opening in the puff is reached.

In manufacturing the puffs one set of'operators may perform the machine stitching operation indicated in Fig. 1 of the drawing Another set of employees may turn the puffs and stuff the same. If holders are employed, another set of employees may mount the turned puffs in the holdersand preliminarily bend the edges of the opening slightly in ward. The operators of the above-mentioned machines simply place the holderand pufi in the machine and stitehthe opening;

Still another setof workers may, if necessary, again push the material at the opening inward and then draw the ends of the thread taut and trim the same. If a ribbon is used on the puff, this ribbon isfpreferably reversed, as was previously described. The puff is then finished and maybe packed for shipment.

It is believed that my novel powder puff, which machine stitched entirely around its'periphery, and the method for making the same, and the many advantages thereof, will all be apparent from the foregoing detailed description. The opening in the stitched and turned puff is machine stitched with a stitch which, although initially externally exposed, is so arranged-that. when drawn taut, it tends to draw-the cloth of the puff around in a manner which conceals the stitch. This may be accomplished with a pair of threads looped together, by means of a needle and shuttlev in a'conventional manner, except that only alternate'stitches are taken within the puff.

The material at the opening in the puff is constantly pushed inward and shaped to 'roper size during the stitching operation...

he method may be employed even when the puff is provided with a ribbon which must be sewed to the puff when the opening therein is closed. I

It will be apparent that while I have shownand described my invention in the preferred form, many changes andmodifications may be made in the method and structure disclosed without departing. fromthe spirit of the invention, defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A turned powder puff comprising in verted plies of, material united entirely around most of their periphery with a stitched and turned seam, while the balance of their periphery is stitched with separate upper and lower threads looped together.

4. A powder pufi comprising a plurality of plies of material which are stitched together around most of their periphery with a stitched and turned seam, while the balance of their periphery is stitched with tireads looped outside of the puff.

5. A powder put? comprising a plurality of plies of material which are stitched together around most of their periphery with a stitched and turned seam, while the balance of their periphery is stitched with two threads, one passing through the upper and the other passing through the lower plyof material, said threads being alternately looped within the puff and without the puff.

6. A powder puif comprising a plurality of plies of material which are stitched together around most of their periphery with a stitched and turned seam,.while the balance of their periphery is stitched with two threads, one passing through the upper and the other passing through the lower ply of material, said threads being so looped outside of the puff that tension on the ends of the threads tends to draw the -material of the puff over the stitch.

7. A powder puff comprising a'plurality of plies of material and a ribbon, said plies of material being stitched together for most of their periphery with a stitched and turned seam including one end of the ribbon, while the balance of the periphery and the other end of the ribbon are stitched with threads looped outside of the puif, said ribbon extending over that side of the puff which causes the ribbon to cover the exposed looped threads.

8. A powder puff comprising a plurality of plies of material and a ribbon, said plies of material being stitched together for mostof their periphery with a stitched and turned seam including one end of the ribbon, while the balance of the periphery and the other end of the ribbon are stitched with two threads, one passing through the upper and the other passing through the lower ply of material, said threads being alternately looped within the puff and without the puff, and said ribbon extending over that side of the puff which causes the ribbon to cover the exposed looped threads.

9. A powder pufi comprising a plurality of plies of material and a ribbon, said plies of material being stitched together for most of their periphery with a stitched and turned seam including one end of the ribbon, while the balance of the periphery and the other end of the ribbon are stitched with two threads, one passing through the upper and the other passing through the lower ply of material, said threads being so looped outside of the vpuff that tension on the ends of the threads tends to draw the material of the puff over the stitching.

10. In the manufacture of powder puffs, the

of the plies'of material inward and machine stitching the same together.

11. In the manufacture of powder puifs, the method which includes superposing plies of material, machine stitching the plies of material togetherfor most of their periphery, turning the puff, bending the open edges of theplies of material inward and machine stitching the same together, and pulling the threads of the machine stitching taut.

12. In the manufacture of powder puffs, the method which includes superposing plies of material, machine stitching the plies of material together for most of their periphery, turning the puff to bring the right side of the material outermost and to conceal the seam, filling the puff, bending the open edges of the plies of material inward, machine stitching the opening with a preliminarily exposed stitch, and pulling the threads of the machine stitching taut in order to conceal the same. 7

13. In the manufacture of powder pulfs, the method of stitching the opening lefttherein after turning the same, which includes bending the plies of material inwardly at the opening, machine stitching the opening, and pushing the material of the puff inwardly between the taking of successive stitches. o

14. In the manufacture of powder puffs, the method of stitching the opening left therein after turningthe same, which includes bending the plies of material inwardly at the opening, alternately looping upper and lower threads and pushing the material of the opening inwardly, and pulling the threads taut.

15. Inthe manufacture of powder puffs, the method of stitching the opening left therein after turning the same, which includes bending the plies of material inwardly at the opening, passing an upper thread. downwardly through the material and looping it with a lower thread, passing the upper thread downwardly outside of the periphery of the puff and looping it with the lower thread, again passing the upper thread downwardly through the material of the puff and looping it with the lower thread, and so on. V

16. In the manufacture of powder pufis, the method of stitching the opening left therein after turning the same, which includes bending the plies of material inwardly at the opening, machine stitching the opening by passing an upper thread downwardly through the material and looping it with a between, machine stitching the plies of material for most of their periphery and including one end of the ribbon, turning the material to conceal the seam andto bring the ribbon outside, machine stitching the opening in the pull and the other end of the ribbon with an exposed stitch, and turning the ribbon to the opposite side of the puii in order to conceal the exposed stitch.

18. In the manufacture of powder pufi's, the method which includes superposing plies of material with a ribbon therebetween, ma-

chine stitching the plies of material together 7 for most of their periphery and including one end of the ribbon, turning the puff, machine stitching the opening and the ribbon and meanwhile pushing the material of the puff inwardly between the taking of succes sive stitches, and finally turning the ribbon to the other side of the pufl.

19. In the manufacture of powder pufis, the method which includes superposing plies of material with a ribbon therebetween, machine stitching the plies of material together for most of their periphery and including one end of the ribbon, turning the puff, bending the open edges of the plies of material and the other end of the ribbon inwardly,

machine stitching the opening and the ribbon by passing an upper thread downwardly through the material and looping it with a lower thread, pushing the material inwardly, passing the upper thread downwardly outside of the periphery of the pufi and looping it with the lower thread, pushing the mate- 7 rial inwardly, again passing the upper thread downwardly through the material of the pufi and looping it with the lower thread, and so on, pulling the threads taut, and turning the ribbon to the other side of the puff.

Signed at CollegePoint in the county of Queens and State of New York this 27th day ROGER BIHLER.

of May, A. D. 1931. 

